Expect a national conversation about Latino historic preservation featuring guest speakers from across the country and an engaging program of tours and special events. Join preservationists, scholars, students, design professionals, and community advocates for an unprecedented discussion of the value and future of heritage conservation in New England’s Latino communities and beyond.

Keynote speeches and sessions

Thursday’s program features Dr. Stephen Pitti, Professor of American Studies, History, and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration at Yale University. Dr. Pitti is the author of The Devil in Silicon Valley: Mexicans and Mexican Americans in Northern California (2003) and American Latinos and the Making of the United States (2012).

Saturday’s keynote speaker is Dr. Ray Rast, Assistant Professor of History at Gonzaga University. Dr. Rast served on the scholars’ advisory board for the National Park Service’s American Latino Heritage Initiative, and he is a founding member of Latinos in Heritage Conservation.

Sessions on Thursday and Friday explore topics such as underrepresented communities in historic preservation, Latino preservation and academia, murals as history, and NextGen preservation.

Tours by foot, bike, and bus

Saturday’s tours continue themes from Thursday and Friday’s sessions. Visit places important to Latino heritage in Central Falls and on Broad Street, Smith Hill, the West Side, and Olneyville in Providence. Tour public art, preservation projects, and underrepresented communities such as Chinatown, African American College Hill, and sites relating to local LGBTQ history.

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